The Chesapeake Bay: home to several strong friendships

As you might imagine, we’ve crossed paths with countless people during our travels on the water. Some, like the proverbial ships in the night, we enjoy our time with but then go our separate ways. There are others that we develop more of a long-lasting bond with though. A bond that survives distance, leading us to maintain contact, even if it is only possible via email or social media. Interestingly to me, some of our strongest friendships began in the Chesapeake Bay during our initial trip south. We have some great memories from our time there, no doubt influenced by the amazing people that we met.

Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing,
Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness;
So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another,
Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.

1874, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Tales of a Wayside Inn, part 3, section 4

Even though we only crossed paths for only a very short time in Cape May, one of the Chesapeake-area friends that we have maintained contact with is Drew, author of the website Sail Delmarva. And for good reason! Drew owns a PDQ 32 (now a 34 after he extended the transoms) so it was obviously the fact that we shared the same boat model that initially brought us together. His website became a go-to read for me though, as I found that it contains some of the most practical cruising, sailing, and boating tips around. Drew is also super frugal, and a do-it-yourselfer, two qualities that I admire, and aspired to adopt.

Since we’ve gone almost a week without any sailing content, I want to direct you to our friend’s site, knowing that there’d be plenty of reading there to occupy your Sunday. Drew has written numerous articles for magazines such as Practical Sailor, and you can find plenty of similar info on his site, for free. By the way, in addition to his regular blogs posts, and the articles that he has had published, I’ve come to learn that he now has several new books available too. We purchased one of his books, Circumnavigating the Delmarva Peninsula, before heading south, and it’s full of practical, first-hand knowledge. Hopefully some of his works will find there way into your hands too. Not only is it nice to support our friends, but also small, independent authors too!